Method and server for management of electronic receipts

ABSTRACT

A system for managing electronic receipts is provided. According to one aspect, the system includes a portable device, a base device, a user device and an electronic receipts administration system. The electronic receipts administration system provides the base device with the appropriate data to allow the base device to generate, store and manage electronic receipts accordingly. A user uses the portable device to conduct a transaction with the base device. The base device uses a variety of information to generate an electronic receipt for the transaction. Such information includes, for example, information stored on the portable device, information stored locally on the base device and information stored on another device such as an electronic cash register. The electronic receipt is then stored on the portable device. The user device allows the user to subsequently retrieve the electronic receipt for management purposes.

CROSS-REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/676,508, filed Sep. 30, 2003, which claims benefit ofpriority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 60/467,710, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGEMENT OFELECTRONIC RECEIPTS ON PORTABLE DEVICES”, filed on May 2, 2003, theentireties of which are hereby incorporated by reference for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a variety of transactions, customers or buyers of goods or servicestypically receive receipts from their respective merchants or serviceproviders as proof of existence of conducted transactions. Generally,receipts are issued by merchants and service providers for a number ofreasons including, for example, regulatory or tax reasons andconvenience purposes. A receipt provides information about acorresponding transaction for the purpose of providing all participantswith a trace or record of the transaction. Receipts may be used forvarious purposes including, for example, proving participation in atransaction for tax reporting purpose; managing exception situationsarising from a transaction, such as, product return; facilitating asubsequent transaction between a service user and a service provider,such as, being used as a claim ticket for equipment on repair; orfacilitating provision of complementary services, such as, warranties.

Generally, receipts are provided in printed form. There is, however, anumber of shortcomings associated with printed receipts. For example,printed receipts contribute to operating costs for the merchants andservice providers. Also, printed receipts once they are issued to theconsumers are difficult to track and/or audit. This limited ability totrack and audit printed receipts makes them particularly susceptible tofraudulent uses (such as, forgery, misuse, etc.). Furthermore, from aconsumer standpoint, printed receipts have limited convenience inherentto their physical attributes.

In some systems, electronic receipts are stored on a portable device.However, storing of the electronic receipts is often performed on an adhoc basis and such systems do not provide any meaningful management ofthe electronic receipts after they have been stored.

Hence, it would be desirable to provide methods and systems that arecapable of addressing the foregoing and other issues and managing andusing electronic receipts in a more efficient manner.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system for managing electronic receipts is provided. According to oneembodiment, the system includes a portable device, a base device, a userdevice and an electronic receipts administration system. The electronicreceipts administration system provides the base device with theappropriate data to allow the base device to generate, store and manageelectronic receipts accordingly. A user uses the portable device toconduct a transaction with the base device. The base device uses avariety of information to generate an electronic receipt for thetransaction. Such information includes, for example, information storedon the portable device, information stored locally on the base deviceand information stored on another device such as an electronic cashregister. The electronic receipt is then stored on the portable device.The user device allows the user to subsequently retrieve the electronicreceipt for management purposes.

Reference to the remaining portions of the specification, including thedrawings and claims, will realize other features and advantages of thepresent invention. Further features and advantages of the presentinvention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodimentsof the present invention, are described in detail below with respect toaccompanying drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic block diagram illustrating anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention in the form of one or more exemplary embodimentswill now be described. FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic block diagramillustrating a system according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. In one embodiment, the system 10 has a number of elementsincluding a portable device 12, a base device 14, a user device 16, anelectronic receipt management server 18, a service provider environment22 and an administration service provider environment 20. The serviceprovider environment 22 includes one or more systems and/or computersthat allow the service provider to provide services to its customers.The administration service provider environment 20 includes anelectronic receipt administration system 24 and an electronic receiptstore 26. In an alternative embodiment, the functionality provided bythe administration service provider environment 20 may be incorporatedinto the service provider environment 22. As will be further describedbelow, the various elements of the system 10 allow for generation,storage and management of electronic receipts by a number of differentparties including, for example, a customer who receives the electronicreceipt, a service provider who issues the electronic receipt, and anyother party that may have an interest in accessing or obtaining theelectronic receipt. It should be understood that in other embodiments(not shown), multiple instances of each element of the system 10 may bepresent.

The portable device 12 is a uniquely identifiable personal device, withstorage and computing ability and sets of unique identifyingcharacteristics. The portable device 12 contains a unique identifierdetermined by the portable device issuer. Such identifier may be in theform of an account number. The portable device may also contain personalinformation on the device user, such as, a name, an address, and otherdemographics information. Examples of a portable device include, smartcards, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, pagers,memory sticks, secure digital (SD) cards, dongles, payment cards, etc.The portable device 12 (or the software or hardware that allows theportable device 12 to perform its various functions) can be issued by anentity, such as, a financial institution, a business entity and apayment card company. As will be further described below, the portabledevice 12 can be used by a user or consumer to conduct a transactionwith a service provider via the base device 14. As part of thetransaction, the portable device 12 interacts with the base device 14 inorder to generate an electronic receipt. The electronic receipt is thenstored in the portable device 12 for subsequent processing andmanagement.

The portable device 12 is capable of storing a multiplicity ofelectronic receipts. The maximum number of electronic receipts that canbe stored on the portable device 12 depends on a number of factors, suchas, portable device memory capacity and design and constraints of theissuer of the portable device 12.

The portable device 12 further allows the stored electronic receipts tobe accessed. Optionally, the portable device 12 may be programmed so asto require user authentication prior to releasing an individualelectronic receipt for access.

In one embodiment, the portable device 12 includes a communicationmodule, a computing module, and a storage module. The communicationmodule interfaces with the base device 14 by means of one of a number ofconnections including, for example, direct electrical connection,infrared connection or radio frequency based connection. The computingmodule interfaces between the communication and storage modules and iscapable of executing control logic as needed to control addressing ofthe storage area of the storage module and access to the information instorage, assessing the integrity of the information, or performingsecurity, encryption, or authentication functions. The storage module iscapable of storing electrical information even upon the power down ofthe portable device 12.

Data storage on the portable device 12 includes at least a localelectronic receipt database or file. The local electronic receiptdatabase is used to store electronic receipts generated for transactionsconducted with the portable device 12 and is organized in such a fashionas to allow identification of and access to the electronic receiptsaccording to their contents, which may include a substantially uniquereceipt identifier.

The base device 14 is a device with computing and local storage ability.The base device 14 interacts with the portable device 12 to generate anelectronic receipt for a transaction. The base device 14 is capable ofacquiring and storing, optionally in a secure fashion, various types ofinformation that is used to generate electronic receipts. Informationthat is stored on the base device 14 includes unique base deviceidentification characteristics and transaction event information, suchas, services and products delivered, prices paid, accounts used forpayment, service due dates, etc. The base device 14 receives the varioustypes of information from one or more different sources including, forexample, the portable device 12, the service provider environment 22,the administration service provider environment 20 and other peripheraldevices. For example, the service provider environment 22 may includeperipheral devices, such as, an electronic cash register, which cansupply information including price and product information to the basedevice 14 for incorporation into an electronic receipt. Furthermore, thebase device 14 may also include facilities to allow information to beentered directly into the base device 14.

In one embodiment, the base device 14 includes a local electronicreceipt database or file, a local electronic receipt activity log and alocal electronic receipt policy management storage. The base device 14interfaces between the portable device 12 and the administration serviceprovider environment 20 to allow a user to conduct a transaction for thepurchase of products and/or services. Examples of a base device 14include point of sales (POS) devices, ATMs, kiosks, personal computers,cellular phones and regular telephones.

The local electronic receipt database is used to store electronicreceipts generated by the base device 14. The local electronic receiptactivity log is used to maintain historical information for transactionsconducted via the base device 14. Information from the local electronicreceipt database and the local electronic receipt activity log may beexported or forwarded to the electronic receipt administration system 24and other systems or devices for reporting and other purposes. Suchother systems or devices may be applications residing within or withoutthe base device 14 including, for example, a peripheral device such asan electronic cash register in the service provider environment 20.

The local electronic receipt policy management storage is used to storepolicies including terms and conditions relating to generation andmanagement of electronic receipts. The electronic receiptsadministration system 24 provides the corresponding policy for theservice provider to the base device 14. In embodiments where the basedevice 14 is capable of communicating with a number of differentelectronic receipts administration systems 24, the local electronicreceipt policy management storage of the base device 14 may includedifferent policies for different service providers.

The base device 14 is further capable of erasing an electronic receiptfrom its local electronic receipt database or the portable device 12with which the base device 14 is interacting, automatically upon the endof its validity period or upon confirmation by the user of the portabledevice 12.

In one embodiment, the base device 14 includes local and remotecommunications modules, optionally user interface modules, a computingmodule and a local storage module. These modules may be implementedusing software or hardware or a combination of both.

The communication module of the base device 14 is capable ofcommunicating with the portable device 12 via one of a number methodsincluding, for example, radio frequency, infrared and direct electricalconnections.

The remote communication module of the base device 14 is capable ofcommunicating on a substantially real time basis with the electronicreceipts administration system 24. The remote communication module ofthe base device 14 may also interface with other systems involved inprocessing a transaction, such as, the service provider environment 22,which the base device 14 may query for transaction data.

The user device 16 is a device with computing and local storagecapability capable of communicating with the portable device 12 andother devices to perform a number of functions including, for example,retrieving electronic receipts from the portable device 12, storing theretrieved electronic receipts locally, displaying the electronicreceipts for management, and exporting information from the electronicreceipts for use with other applications and/or services that resideeither within or without the user device 16. Examples of a user device16 include personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellphones and kiosks.

The user device 16 is a convenience system allowing the user tointerface with the portable device 12 for the purpose of managing theelectronic receipts stored in the portable device 12. The user device 16allows the user of the portable device 12 to manage the electronicreceipts stored on the portable device in a number of ways. For example,the status of the portable device 12 may be displayed by the user device16, such as, electronic receipt stored, memory available, etc. Theelectronic receipts can be displayed in an organized fashion by the userdevice 16. The user may exchange information between the portable device12 and the user device 16. The user may selectively delete electronicreceipts stored on the portable device 12 or transfer some or all of theelectronic receipts from the portable device 12 to the user device 16.The user may also selectively delete electronic receipts that werepreviously transferred to the user device 16 or download previouslytransferred electronic receipts from the user device 16 to the portabledevice 12. Electronic receipts on the portable device 12 may also beduplicated onto the user device 16, for the purpose of saving a copy ofan electronic receipt, which copy may include specific informationidentifying it as a duplicate.

In one embodiment, the user device 16 includes a communication modulecapable of interfacing with the portable device 12 through such means asdirect electrical connections, infrared communication or radio frequencybased communication; a display interface, such as, a screen, a printer,a keypad, touch screen, tablet, mouse and a system capable of providingan interface via the sense of sight or touch; a computing system capableof running specific control logic used to retrieve and displayelectronic receipts; a local storage component capable of storingelectronic receipts uploaded from the portable device 12.

The user device 16 may be configured for use directly in conjunctionwith the portable device 12 or other devices in an off-line manner toprovide local receipt management or to interface, through an opennetwork 28, with the electronic receipt management server 18, where theelectronic receipt storage and management functions are performed. Theopen network 28 may include the Internet, a local area network, a widearea network and other types of computer networks. Alternatively, theuser device 16 may communicate with the electronic receipt managementserver 18 via a dedicated communication link, such as, a dialup link, aT1 line and a T3 line, etc. The electronic receipt management server 18or other devices may or may not be owned and operated by the entityoperating the electronic receipts administration system 24. However,communications from the user device 12 and the electronic receiptmanagement server 18 and other devices may be secured or otherwise bedefined according to the specification provided by the administrationservice provider environment 20.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 is capable ofcommunicating with the base device 14 on a substantially real timebasis, directly or through an intermediary network, for the purpose ofmanaging the base device 14.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 includes control logicused to register and manage the base device 14. The base device 14 isassigned an unique base device identifier (UBDID) generated by theelectronic receipt administration system 24. In one implementation, theUBDID includes an unique number that can be used to identify the basedevice 14. Optionally, the UBDID includes a location identifier that isused to identify the location of the base device 14. The locationidentifier may contain sub-fields to not only identify a location butpossibly a lane or point of service location within the location. Thelocation may be a physical location or an Internet location.Furthermore, the UBDID may also include discretionary data, such as, aname, an address, and a phone number.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 may also use the UBDIDto identify the service provider involved in the transaction. The UBDIDmay further include information relating to a service provider. As aresult, base devices 14 belonging to a particular service provider canbe identified.

The UBDID may be constructed as a fixed identifier with specificsub-fields used for the unique number, location identifier, anddiscretionary data; or a variable length identifier made up ofdescriptor and data fields, the descriptor fields identifying the natureand length of the data, the data including the unique number, locationidentifier and discretionary data.

Information from the UBDID is incorporated into an electronic receiptgenerated by the base device 14. This allows the base device 14 identifyelectronic receipts that it generated. Furthermore, this provides addedsecurity with respect to access to the electronic receipts stored on theportable device 12 by the base device 14. The UBDID can be used as anauthentication check to ensure that the base device 14 only accesses theelectronic receipts that it generated.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 also controlsgeneration and management of electronic receipts by the base device 14by providing the data and control logic required locally by the basedevice 14 for the generation and management of electronic receipts. Forexample, the electronic receipts administration system 24 downloads theappropriate electronic receipt generation and management policy to thebase device 14 to allow the base device 14 to generate and manageelectronic receipts accordingly. Such policy include, for example,validity periods, conditions for retrieval, receipt securityrequirements, base device and portable device maximum storage capacity,or procedures for handling exceptions.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 further collects fromthe base device 14 information relating to the base device 14 and theelectronic receipts generated by the base device 14. Such data mayinclude data used by security algorithms to identify participatingportable devices 12 at the base device 14, generate secure electronicreceipts, and provide verification of integrity of an electronicreceipt.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 performs a number ofother functions. For example, the electronic receipts administrationsystem 24 may collect from the base device 14 electronic receipts storedon the base device 14 for storage on the electronic receiptsadministration system 24 for the purpose of freeing memory on the basedevice 14. Electronic receipts stored on the base device 14 areduplicated and stored on the electronic receipts administration system24 for the purpose of saving a copy of an electronic receipt, which copymay include specific information identifying it as a duplicate.Information from the electronic receipts is aggregated by the electronicreceipts administration system 24 for the purpose of reporting as forinstance in the case of customer service, or base device performancemanagement. Such aggregated information may also be provided by theelectronic receipts administration system 24 to other systems and/orservices for various purposes, such as, tax reporting. The electronicreceipts administration system 24 may further use the aggregatedinformation to respond to administrative queries from the base device14, such as, requests for electronic receipt back-up restoration orrequests for receipt proofing based on comparison with a duplicate.

The system 10 operates in the following exemplary manner. When the userof the portable device 12 wishes to conduct a transaction with theservice provider, the user directs the portable device 12 to interactwith the base device 14, for example, by inserting the portable device12 into the base device 14. The base device 14 retrieves informationfrom the portable device 12 and, optionally, receives information fromother peripheral devices, such as, an electronic cash register. The basedevice 14 then uses such information as well as other information thatis available locally to produce an electronic receipt for thetransaction. Information that is available locally includes, forexample, unique base device characteristics, such as, the UBDID, andpolicies and terms and conditions for generating electronic receipts forthe specific service provider. The electronic receipt is then providedto the portable device 12 where the electronic receipt is stored. Aduplicate copy of the electronic receipt may be retained and stored inthe base device 14.

Preferably, data contained in the electronic receipt is protectedagainst tampering, and optionally against retrieval by an unauthorizedsource. The electronic receipt contains a variety of informationincluding, for example, receipt status information (such as original,duplicated, invalid and deleted); a substantially unique receiptidentifier; substantially unique transaction identifying information,such as, a transaction ID generated by the service provider, date, time,transaction amount when payment occurred, information on products andservices delivered, and validity period; base device information, suchas, the UBDID; a variable number of line items, each with a variablenumber of transaction specific information, such as, line item productor service obtained, price, terms and conditions of service; uniqueportable device identification information linking the electronicreceipt to the portable device; account information linking theelectronic receipt to the payment account used to pay for thetransaction; and portable device user information.

The electronic receipt can also be displayed by the base device 14 andthe user device 16. Depending on the respective configurations of thebase device 14 and the user device 16, the electronic receipt can bedisplayed in different formats.

Electronic receipts may have individually or collectively defined accessconditions identifying methods and/or security mechanisms that need tobe satisfied in order to perform functions associated with theelectronic receipts, such as, viewing, uploading, and canceling.

Electronic receipts are stored as logical records within data structuresin the portable device 12 and optionally the base and user devices 14and 16. In one embodiment, a record or data structure for storing anelectronic receipt may contain a header, content descriptors and data.The header contains such information as may be required to (1) uniquelyretrieve the electronic receipt stored in the portable device (such asstart address, length for instance); (2) identify the electronic receipt(such as substantially unique receipt identifier); (3) link theelectronic receipt to an UBDID; (4) implement receipt access conditions,and receipt confidentiality protection; and (5) identify the receiptstate (including but not limited to the following three states: valid,canceled, copy).

The content descriptor includes information required to identify andretrieve any single field of an electronic receipt stored on theportable device 12, the base device 14 and the user device 16. Suchdescriptor may contain data labels or tags, and data lengths, usingproprietary or standard specification as defined by the administrationservice provider environment 20.

In one embodiment, a record used for storing an electronic receiptincludes a number of special fields. The special fields include avariety of data including, for example, (1) data used in the process ofvalidating the integrity of the electronic receipt (tamper detection),such as, the result of a checksum or one-way hash function; (2) date ofreceipt creation and receipt validity period; (3) data identifying theportable device 14 on which the electronic receipt is first stored; (4)data which allow receipt management functions, such as, receipttransfer, receipt back-up, receipt duplication, and automatic receiptdeletion at the end of its validity period.

The record used for storing an electronic receipt further includes anumber of data fields which include (1) date and time of transaction;(2) reference or description of products and/or services provided; (3)price, payment terms and payment status; (4) portable device userinformation, such as, name or address; (5) base device defined datarelated to receipt formatting and presentation, such as, definitions ofsize, fonts, color, orientation, logos, brands or trademarks, or keymessages specific to the user.

The storage of electronic receipts on the portable device 12 islogically structured so as to allow a number of functionality. Forexample, the base device 14 is able to scan through electronic receiptsto identify which ones are related to or can be managed by the basedevice 14, without bypassing receipt access control conditions. The basedevice 14 is able to delete any expired electronic receipt (beyond itsvalidity period) for which automatic deletion is allowed. The basedevice 14 is also able to verify the integrity of an electronic receipt.The portable device 12 is able to respond to a query for retrieving anelectronic receipt from the base device 14 by satisfying the necessaryaccess condition requirements, if any, defined in relation with theelectronic receipt. In addition, the portable device 12 is able torespond to retrieval request from the user device 16, providing multipleelectronic receipts upon satisfaction of a general retrieval accesscondition. The portable device 12 is able to refuse storage of anelectronic receipt under certain conditions including, for example, whenthe memory capacity of the portable device 12 is exceeded.

In one embodiment, a number of data and file structures can beimplemented to allow for the foregoing functionality, including, forexample, (i) a receipt directory containing the receipt headers and thenecessary pointers to the actual electronic receipt in a receiptdatabase; (ii) the receipt database indexed by UBDID and receipt ID; and(iii) a flat file of predefined length, including for each electronicreceipt a header followed by sequences of descriptor/data pairs.

Electronic receipts that may be off-loaded from the portable device 12are linked with the portable device 12 for tracking purposes. Theportable device 12 includes a unique identifier defined by the issuer ofthe portable device 12. The portable device identifier may be a fixed orvariable length identifier. Electronic receipts generated by theportable device 12 include such unique identifier and, optionally, userinformation, such as, name, address and information relating to paymentaccounts that may be linked to the portable device 12 and used in thecontext of a transaction. User information may be constructed as fixedor variable length records with predefined contents or a set of variablelength records made up of descriptor and data fields, the descriptorfields identifying the nature and length of the data, the data fieldsincluding such data as required to identify the user.

Electronic receipts can be manipulated in a wide variety of ways, aswill be further described below. Generally, an electronic receipt iscreated and delivered at a point of service. Creation of an electronicreceipt is initiated when the portable device 12 interacts with the basedevice 14. The base device 14 prompts for the portable device 12 used inthe transaction and validates its ability to receive and storeelectronic receipts. The base device 14 then generates the receipt dataand receipt records, based on the receipt policy associated with thetransaction. In one implementation, the base device 14 contains theappropriate receipt policy; in an alternative implementation, the basedevice 14 obtains the appropriate receipt policy by queryingcomplementary systems associated with the transaction, for instance, acash register or the electronic receipts administration system 24. Thebase device 14 then communicates the electronic receipt to the portabledevice 12 for storage. The base device 14 may locally maintain aduplicate copy of the electronic receipt and an activity log of thereceipt generation. The duplicate electronic receipt and data from theactivity log can be uploaded to the electronic receipts administrativesystem at a later time.

An electronic receipt can be retrieved at the point of delivery of aservice. In order to conduct a transaction, the base device 14 mayrequire the retrieval of an electronic receipt previously stored on theportable device 12, for instance, in the case of a claim ticket. Thebase device 14 queries the portable device 12 and scans the electronicreceipts stored on the portable device 12 to identify the appropriateelectronic receipt using identification information, such as, an UBDIDand relevant transaction information. The use of the UBDID allows thebase device 14 to identify electronic receipts that it generated. Thebase device 14 and the portable device 12 then identify and execute theoperations, if any, associated with the access control conditions forthe electronic receipt, including but not limited to, verification of auser PIN or other means which indicates the positive acceptance by theuser of access to the electronic receipt. Upon retrieval of theelectronic receipt, the base device 14 checks, if required, the validityof the electronic receipt. In the case of multiple electronic receiptshaving been retrieved, the base device 14 may prompt the user to selectthe appropriate one based on such information contained in theelectronic receipts as a receipt ID, a transaction date, a transactionamount or a product or service descriptor. The base device 14 maylocally maintain a log of the electronic receipts retrieved for laterupload to the electronic receipt administration system 20.

An electronic receipt can be deleted or canceled on the portable device12. The base device 14 having retrieved an electronic receipt from theportable device 12 may require its deletion in the portable device 12 toavoid exception situation at a later date, such as, fraudulent claims.This would be the case, for instance, in the case of a claim ticketexchanged for a high value item. For example, upon a user requestingredemption for a service or merchandise, the base device 14 retrieves acorresponding electronic receipt from the portable device 12. Once theservice or merchandise is redeemed, the corresponding electronic receipton the portable device 12 is deleted from the portable device 12. Areceipt deletion is requested by the base device 14 but executed by theportable device 12, in accordance with access control conditions. Anelectronic receipt can be logically deleted (or cancelled) by alteringits state indicator, thus allowing the user to later upload theinformation to the user device 16; or the electronic receipt can bephysically deleted from the memory of the portable device 12 to free upstorage space. The base device 14 may locally maintain a log of thereceipt deletion or cancellation for later upload to the electronicreceipts administrative system 24.

Expired electronic receipts can also be deleted or canceled on theportable device 12. According to the receipt management policy andaccess control conditions, if any, defined for an electronic receipt,the base device 14 may optionally cancel electronic receipts stored inthe portable device 12 that are no longer valid. This function ensuresthat portable device memory is optimally used. Execution of suchfunction may occur during any of the interactions between the basedevice 14 and the portable device 12, and, preferably, in instanceswhere a new electronic receipt is created and stored on the portabledevice 12. The base device 14 may locally log information about thecanceled electronic receipts for later upload to the electronic receiptsadministrative system 24.

Electronic receipts stored on the portable device 12 can be displayedfor management by the user. The portable device 12 may be queried by theuser using the user device 16 looking to retrieve information on some orall the electronic receipts stored on the portable device 12 in order tofacilitate receipt management. Examples of use of this function would beto allow receipt display and sorting by the user as a preamble to othermanagement activities. Electronic receipts that are to be retrieved anddisplayed may be subject to management and access conditions,individually or collectively. For example, the user device 16 may needto satisfy a general access condition applicable to a specific group ofelectronic receipts. Depending on the management and access conditions,receipt information may not be copied and retained on the user device 16for a number of reasons including, for example, preventing fraudulentduplication and use.

A user using the user device 16 to review electronic receipts on theportable device 12 may find it desirable to manage such receipts in anumber of ways including, for example, receipt duplication, storage,sharing, deletion or cancellation, and restoration.

An electronic receipt is duplicated when a copy is uploaded from theportable device 12 into the user device 16 or the base device 14. Thestatus information contained in the copy may be updated so as to reflectthe duplication so as to, for example, avoid fraudulent use ofreproduced receipts.

An electronic receipt is stored or parked when it is uploaded from theportable device 12 into the user device 16 and the original copy in theportable device 12 is deleted. Parking an electronic receipt isperformed to free memory from the portable device 12 without permanentlylosing the electronic receipt. Parking the electronic receipt allows forits later use by downloading it back to the portable device 12. Parkingof an electronic receipt may be subject to the fulfillment of managementand access control conditions, if any.

An electronic receipt is exported when the transaction information itcontains is made available to a different application in or via the basedevice 14 or the user device 16. For example, information from anelectronic receipt may be provided to an accounting application. Theaccounting application may reside in or be external to the base device14 or the user device 16. Exporting an electronic receipt is not akin toduplicating it in that not all the information in the electronic receiptis reproduced. For example, administrative information associated withthe electronic receipt, such as, the management and access controlconditions, may not be duplicated. Exporting of an electronic receiptmay be subject to the fulfillment of management and access controlconditions.

Deleting or canceling an electronic receipt renders it invalid. Adeletion is a physical removal of the electronic receipt from storage. Acancellation is a logical equivalent of a deletion by altering a statecode. A canceled electronic receipt may be overwritten at any time by anew electronic receipt. Depending on the management and access controlconditions, receipt deletion/cancellation can occur by choice of theuser or automatically (e.g., for expired receipts) at the base device14.

Receipt restoration may occur in the case of the loss of the originalelectronic receipt. This may happen in the case of the replacement of alost or defective portable device 12 or as part of the periodicre-issuance of the portable device 12. Receipt restoration is a functionof the electronic receipt management policy defined by the electronicreceipts administration system 24. Receipt restoration involvesretrieving a duplicate or backup copy of the original electronicreceipt, downloading the duplicate or backup copy to the portable device12 and updating the duplicate or backup copy to be recognized as themaster or original copy of the electronic receipt. Receipt restorationmay occur at the user device 16 or the base device 14 and may requirethe devices 14 and 16 to connect to the electronic receipt managementserver 18 and/or the electronic receipts administration system 24 toobtain approval of the action. In addition, the electronic receiptmanagement server 18 and the electronic receipts administration system24 may cooperate with each other, such as exchanging requisiteinformation, to provide receipt restoration. Restoration of anelectronic receipt may be subject to the fulfillment of one or moremanagement and/or access conditions, if any.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 is capable ofperforming a number of operations. For example, electronic receipts maybe retrieved for information management by the service provider via theelectronic receipts administration system 24. Information contained inthe electronic receipts may be of value to the service provider not onlyat the point of sales but also in the context of certain back officeoperations. The service provider may via the electronic receiptsadministration system 24 upload copies of the electronic receipts storedin the base device 14 under its supervision and export the transactioninformation contained in these receipts for use by other systems orproviders. For instance, information contained in an electronic receiptpertaining to a purchase may be used to resolve disputes about thetransaction. Receipt exporting may also allow the service provider toextract performance statistics or usage information about the systems,including that which may be used to assess participation and billing toservice providers or fraud detection and management.

In addition, the electronic receipts administration system 24 may alsocollect information from the base device 14 to facilitate base devicesmanagement. For example, statistics relating to transactions processedby the base device 14 may be used by the electronic administrationsystem 24 to analyze performance of the base device 14 and allow thebase device 14 to be managed more efficiently.

Receipt restoration can be an important component of customer service.Electronic receipt restoration can generate additional consumer benefitsover paper receipts which can be easily lost or damaged. Receiptrestoration means the user or the service provider is asked to identifya duplicate, not otherwise present in the portable device 12, anddownload such duplicate to the portable device 12. Receipt restorationmay be subject to conditions contained in a receipt administrationpolicy defined by the service provider. Such conditions may includenotification to or authorization from the electronic receiptsadministration system 24.

The electronic receipts administration system 24 is capable of providingdata and other requisite information to secure receipt generation andcommunications. The service provider via the electronic receiptsadministration system 24 is able to perform a number of functionsincluding, for example, selecting, creating, distributing andmaintaining the data required to secure the electronic receipts in theportable device 12 including generating and managing keys and securityattributes, validating the integrity of the electronic receipts storedin the portable device 12, identifying participating portable deviceswhen they interact with the base device 14, and securing communicationsbetween the portable device 12 and the base device 14, and between thebase device 14 and the electronic receipts administration system 24.

The data and information needed to provide the foregoing functions areprovided by the electronic receipts administration system 24 to theportable device 12, or the software agent residing on the portabledevice 12, at a minimum during its initialization, i.e., prior to itsissuance and first use, and possibly from time to time after issuance,by execution of dedicated routines in the base device 14 or the userdevice 16. Such data and information are also loaded to the base device14 at a minimum prior to its deployment and, from time to time, duringits operation as the base device 14 connects with the electronicreceipts administration system 24.

The service provider, using the electronic receipts administrationsystem 24, is also able to define and distribute its receipt managementpolicy. A receipt management policy may include requirements defined bythe service provider to document transactions on electronic receipts.Receipt management policies include, for example, conditions associatedwith receipt manipulation operations, the transaction information to beincluded in an electronic receipt and administrative data, such as,validity period, that is to be used by the base device 14 to effectivelygenerate, deliver and manage electronic receipts.

A copy of or changes to the receipt management policy may be downloadedfrom time to time from the electronic receipts administration system 24to the base device 14 where the policy is stored and used by the basedevice 14 to generate, deliver and manage electronic receipts.

It should be understood that the present invention can be deployed in avariety of configurations. For example, in other alternative embodiments(not shown), the base device 14 can be configured to communicate with anumber of different electronic receipts administration systems 24corresponding to different service providers. The base device 14 is ableto use different receipt generation and management policies fromdifferent service providers to generate and manage electronic receiptsfor transactions relating to different service providers. Furthermore,the base device 14 can be configured to communicate with a number ofdifferent portable devices 12 and generate electronic receipts thereforaccordingly. Optionally, the base device 14 can be configured to handletransactions for some portable device 12 but not others. Similarly, theuser device 16 can be configured to interact with a number of differentportable devices 12 and allow receipt management to be performed withrespect to some portable devices 12 but not others. Based on thedisclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate other ways and/methods to deploy the presentinvention in various other configurations.

The present invention can be deployed in many different types ofenvironments including, for example, environments (1) where atransaction between a service user and a service provider results in theproduction of a receipt used for information or subsequent transaction;(2) where the service user interacts with the service provider by meansof a portable device interacting with a base device; (3) where theportable device may also be used to store payment account informationused in the course of the transaction; (4) where the informationrelative to the receipt is generated at the point of sale or service ina substantially off-line manner, that is, where the base device does notgenerally have to retrieve information from a different remote system tocomplete the receipt creation; (5) where the information relative to thereceipt is available in electronic form and such information maysubsequently be displayed in printed form; (6) where receipts may beused in subsequent transactions, such as, the claim of a product or aservice; (7) where the service users may wish to review and manage theirreceipts at will; and (8) where the information contained in theelectronic receipts may be valuable to the service providers.

Electronic receipts generated by the system 10 as described above may beused in a number of illustrative situations. For example, (1) merchantreceipts can be stored in the base device 14 at a store for variouspurposes, including but not limited to, regulatory compliance or proofof purchase; (2) claim tickets can be stored electronically as part ofthe electronic receipt in the portable device 12 when depositing aproduct for service (e.g., repair, cleaning, camera film development,etc.); (3) product and transaction information can be storedelectronically as part of the electronic receipt in the portable device12 for subsequent generation of warranty claims; (4) financialtransaction information can be stored electronically as part of theelectronic receipt for transactions completed at ATMs; (5) informationrelating to loyalty or rewards transactions can be stored electronicallyas part of the electronic receipt in the portable device 12; (6)information on transaction can be retrieved from the electronic receiptfor various purposes, including but not limited to, expense reporting,tax reporting and personal finance management; (7) information can beretrieved from the electronic receipt for product exchange; (8) anelectronic receipt can be transferred electronically, such as, viaemail, for various purposes, including for instance, a gift receiptneeded for an exchange; (9) lost receipts can be restored; (10)important receipts can be kept in electronic escrow for safe protection;(11) other transaction examples include library card and book due datereceipt, parking ticket, will-call ticket from web purchase of eventtickets, coat claim check tickets, etc.; and (12) tickets generated atone merchant can be used at another merchant (e.g., proof of purchase).

Benefits envisioned from the present invention are several foldsincluding, for example, (1) for participating operators of base devices,generating and storing electronic receipts in lieu of paper ones is asource of reduced operating costs; (2) for consumers, electronicreceipts may reduce wallet clutter; (3) by allowing for the exporting ofthe information contained in electronic receipts, automation of a numberof activities can be facilitated including warehousing of receipt fortax reporting purpose, expense reporting, and electronic warranty andproduct registration.

It should be understood that the present invention as described abovecan be implemented in the form of control logic using computer softwarein a modular or integrated manner. Based on the disclosure and teachingsprovided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will know andappreciate other ways and/or methods to implement the present inventionusing hardware and a combination of hardware and software.

It is understood that the examples and embodiments described herein arefor illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changesin light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and areto be included within the spirit and purview of this application andscope of the appended claims. All publications, patents, and patentapplications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference for allpurposes in their entirety.

1. An electronic receipt management server for managing electronicreceipts, comprising: means for managing data representing at least oneelectronic receipt stored in a user device; means for communicating overa network with the user device; and means for storing the datarepresenting the at least one electronic receipt, the data beingsupplied to the means for storing by the user device, wherein the datarepresenting the at least one electronic receipt is created by anexternal device, which originally supplies the data to the user device,the external device being managed by a separate administration serviceprovider, wherein the data stored by the means for storing is used forrestoring the data to the user device or to a portable device, andwherein restoring the data requires communicating with the separateadministration service provider over the network to obtain approval fromthe separate administration service provider to restore the data to theuser device or to the portable device.
 2. The electronic receiptmanagement server of claim 1, wherein the means for communicating issecured according to a specification provided by the separateadministration service provider.
 3. The electronic receipt managementserver of claim 1, wherein restoring the data representing the at leastone electronic receipt comprises retrieving a backup copy of the datarepresenting the at least one electronic receipt from the means forstoring the data representing the at least one electronic receipt andsending the backup copy of the data representing the at least oneelectronic receipt to the user device using the means for communicating.4. The electronic receipt management server of claim 3, whereinrestoring data representing the at least one electronic receipt furthercomprises updating the backup copy to be recognized as an original copyof the data representing the at least one electronic receipt.
 5. Theelectronic receipt management server of claim 4, wherein restoring thedata representing the at least one electronic receipt further comprisescommunicating with the separate administration service provider toexchange information related to restoring the lost data representing theat least one electronic receipt.
 6. The electronic receipt managementserver of claim 5, wherein the information related to restoring the datarepresenting the at least one electronic receipt comprises informationregarding fulfillment of one or more access conditions.
 7. Theelectronic receipt management server of claim 1, wherein the data isrestored to the second user device, the portable device replacing theuser device.
 8. The electronic receipt management server of claim 1,wherein the separate administration service provider comprises aseparate server.
 9. A method for operating an electronic receiptmanagement server for managing an electronic receipt, comprising:communicating with the user device over a network using the electronicreceipt management server; and storing data representing at least oneelectronic receipt in the electronic receipt management server, the datareceived from the user device, wherein the data representing the atleast one electronic receipt is originally supplied to the user deviceby an external device, which is managed by a separate administrationservice provider, wherein the data is used for restoring the data to theuser device or to a portable device, and wherein restoring the datarequires communicating with the separate administration service providerover the network to obtain approval from the separate administrationservice provider to restore the data to the user device or to theportable device.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein communicating withthe user device is secured according to a specification provided by theseparate administration service provider.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein restoring the data representing the at least one electronicreceipt comprises retrieving a backup copy of the data representing theat least one electronic receipt from the electronic receipt managementserver and sending the backup copy of the data representing the at leastone electronic receipt to the user device.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein restoring the data representing the at least one electronicreceipt further comprises updating the backup copy of the datarepresenting the at least one electronic receipt to be recognized as anoriginal copy of the data representing the at least one electronicreceipt.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein restoring the datarepresenting the at least one electronic receipt further comprisescommunicating with the separate administration service provider toexchange information related to restoring the data representing the atleast one electronic receipt.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein theinformation related to restoring the data representing the at least oneelectronic receipt comprises information regarding fulfillment of one ormore access conditions.
 15. The method of claim 9, wherein the datarepresenting the at least one electronic receipt includes receipt statusinformation, a unique receipt identifier, transaction identifyinginformation, base device information, and portable electronic deviceidentification information.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein thereceipt status information identifies the data representing the at leastone electronic receipt as being one of: original, duplicated, invalid,or deleted.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the transactionidentifying information includes a transaction ID, transaction date,transaction amount, information on products or service delivered, and areceipt validity period.
 18. The method of claim 9, wherein the data isrestored to the second user device, the portable device replacing theuser device.
 19. The method of claim 9, wherein the separateadministration service provider comprises a separate server.